PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra
George Rawlinson [1812-1902] · 142,759 words · 159 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 121
Vers. 15-20.-The halt at the Ahava. The journey of the children of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem may be viewed, like that of their fathers from Egypt to Canaan, as a type of the pilgrimage of Christians from the abominations and miseries of the sinful world to the purity and happiness of heaven. In this view the…
779 wordsSECTION 122The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 122
Ver. 21.-Then I proclaimed a fast there. Go<l, it ought to be hande<l over at once to The 1ight of the civil ruler to "proclaim a the custo~y ~f the ministers of religion, and fast" was unquestioned among the Jews anrl not remam m secular hands (compare ver. Israelites. Jezebel proclaimed one in Ahab's 28). name when s…
888 wordsSECTION 123The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 123
AKD SUDSEQUENT EXECUTION OF THE MORE again -~n eh. x. 23, and Noh. viii. 7; x. 9; PRESSING OF THE COMMISSIONS INTRUSTED and xn. 3. To HIM (eh. nil. 32-36). After the fatigues Ver. ,·~.-By number and b:, weight. of a four months' journey, a b1ief period of The gold :tnd the silver were weighed; the ve~els w?re both …
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worth e.tte.cking while prosecuting their journey. On the otl,er hand, they were in a position of much responsibility, being intrusted with the care of many treasures for God's house. These were the two things Ezra had to see to before they actually moved. The plane he adopted in doing ao are very characteristic and in…
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suc!1 a trust,. a company of no fewer (apparently) than twenty-four men (ver 24), tRkmg especial care to have among them two of those last-comers whose coming hnd been looked upon as so great n gain to them all. Further, all that was intrnsted to them he duly and carefully weig·hed (we are told of this twice) in the…
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two priests and two Levites, are described as being present on the other side to receive them. Very carefully, also, as became the place and the trust was every- thing done. All the gifts of every description-" the silver and the g~ld and the vessels' '-were "weighed;" they were weighed by "the hand" of the chief man w…
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Vers. 21-23.-The fa.st at the Ahava. The halt on the banks of the Ahava lruited three days. Ezra lost no time. He viewed his company, and finding no Levites, organised a mission to induce some of them to join him. To the credit of the sons of Levi, strong as was their attachment to the silver of Casiphia, they prom…
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eign rrmy have been given them. On another occasion God anthenticated his servant Ezra by sending heavy rain to show his anger (see eh. x. 9). Their faith in God would have carried its own evidence. True faith is of Divine inspiration (Col. ii. 12). Therefore it is the subsistence of things hoped for, i. e. things hope…
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rush into it; he religiously braved it. (1) Humility. He humbled himself before God in view of his perilous journey. (2) Supplication. He soll&"ht the Divine aid. Thus must we act when we are called upon to reject the secular aids of life. 3. Wlim did Ezra act without the aid of the secular? Ezra travelled without the …
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position is that of the backslider from God I (2) By virtue of God's acceptance of a gift it becomes holy. When God receives a 8inner he sanctifies him by his Spirit. As the Levites and Nethinims kept the vessels of the snnctuary clean so are all the ordinances of religion designed to keep believers pure. Consider- ' …
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heavenward way. He will (a) show us the path we should take, saving us from error, an~ 0 us. ~om evil, and ( b) defend us from our adversa~ies: ( 1) those above us- pnnc1pahties and powers, &c. ; (2) those around us-evil men, dangerous fascina- tions, worldly honours, pleasures of the flesh; (3) those within us-unho…
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nwed the enemies thnt they did not attack. Or else if they did attack they wern overwhelmed by the "hand of God." 11 If God be for us, who can be agairn,t 118 ? " II. THEY EN'rERED INTO JERUSALEM WITH JOY. 1. It was the end of a toil.'/07M march. (1) The journey occupied four months. They" departed from the river of …
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women of their own nation and religion, had was effectually checked, the evil rooted out taken to themselves wives freely from the and removed. Wo shall find, however, in idolatrous tribes and m1tions in their vicinity. Nehemiah, that it recurred (Neh. xiii. 23)1 They ha,! intermarried with the Ammonites, in combina…
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It must have been some considerable time much less into affinity and alliance. Thus nfterwards. Ezra reached Jerusalem on the the thing was to Ezra a new thing. IIis first do.y ot the fifth month (eh. vii. 9), familiarity with the Law, and, perhaps we rested three days (eh. viii. 32), nncl on the fourth day of the ea.m…
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who wore alnrmed at the transgression of the the time. Ho rent hie garment and hi■ commands of God (eh. x, 3), and at the mantle a second time, as a renewed indicn• threat,; which the Law contained against tion of sorrow, and with the view of impress• transgressors (Deut. vii. 4). Beoause of the ing the people who "wer…
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shown them by the kings of Persio. ho.d not have suffered, the loss of our independence, cho.nged this fo.ct. To r,-ve us a wall. The.t of our temple, and our city, the long and is to so.y, "o. shelter. • The city we.II still weary perioll of captivity and servitude in le.y in ruins (see N ah. i. 3 ; ii. 13, &c.). a fo…
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iii. ~nd ,·er. 20, '?i. 7) R~d arouse their fears (2 Chron. xxxiv. 19-21). In pro- po1t10n, also, as his work m these respects was made effectual by God's blessing in the Ea'!ie proportion_ would they be led to think and feel thus, not only about e~ch open ~ms as Ezra might denounce by name, but also about any other…
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Ezra himself. All silent, like Job's friends, when first they came to him and beheld his grief (Job ii. 13). There are occasions when silence says most. It does so when it proclaims a sorrow to be too overwhelming to allow of speech. In such silence that afternoon passed, till the hour for the evening sacrifice had arr…
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re~p~:1t-had_ been the ~~sult (~ee end -yer. 7). Even to tha~ "day," in fact (ibid.), this confus10n of face, of which Damel had spoken so feelingly some eig·hty years ago, after some seventy years' trial of it, remained as part of their lot. Yet, with all this in their memory and experience, what had been their rep…
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Vore. 1-4.-Spiritual separatinn. I. THAT SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD IB A uw OD' THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. The Israelites must separate themselves from the people of the land (ver, 1). Thie separation is not (1) local. The Israelites and Canaanites must live in the same world, in the same town, and often in the same house. . T…
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2: ':['he ,;oJation of the Jaw was general,. (1) The rulers were involved in it. The c1Yll; the ecclesiastical. "The princes and rulers have been chief in this tresr,ass." Being in it, this could not be otherwise. Position involves responsibilities. Those who are conspicuous for station should be conspicuous for goo…
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nnd Ha.~gai was no longer prophesying, and some of those who had the direction of pubho affa.ire-" princes" they are called (ver. 1)--came to Ezra with a very serious con_iplaint. '£hey came t~ tell him that several o~ the Jews, including many of the Levites, and even of the pneate, and also (and notoriously) some o…
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n11en be learnt how the children of Israel had gone astray in the matter of the mixed marriages, he was overwhelmed with strong and profound feeling. There was- I. DISMAY AT THE PRESENCE OF SIN (ver. 5). He sat "astonished until the evening sacrifice" (ver. 4), having just given way to an Oriental exhibition of er…
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His suspense was awful, until the fire of the altar began to light up the darknesA of the gathering night. 2. Now !te is encouraged to pray. (1) God has found out a way. Sacrifice would never have occurred to the unaided reason of man; or even had it occurred to him, he could not be sure that God would accept it. (2) G…
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A E1ense of sin should lead to God. 4. The personal daim of the prayer. "My God," "0 my God." II. THAT THE SIGHT OF SIN AWAKENS WITHIN THE GOOD MAN A SEN~E OF SIIAME, "I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God : for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is g-rown up unto the heav…
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shame they felt in the presence of their BabyloniBh lords (see Dan. ix. 7, 8). AIBo before their Persian masters. (2) Their calamities were sweeping. The people were involved in them. Bo were their "kings." What a contrast between the con- dition of David and Solomon and that of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah (2 Kings xxv. 7)…
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11.11d " ell the people" present, to swe11r to auoh as are born of them. " Filii matrem this covenant. "And they swore." An sequuntur" was a maxim of Roman, and, engagement of a most sacred character was apriaren.tly, also of Jewish law. Young thus entered into by n number of influential children require especially a m…
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penitential prayer, and might be counted on ally, "they made to p88!a.voice" (wap;,v,y- to lend it additional force with Almighty o:av t/>wv71v.-LXX.). They sent criers to make the matter known. To all the, chil- God. Compare the private and personal dren of the captivity. I. e. to all those who, fo.ste of David (2 S…
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personal interest in thwarting Ezra. e.nd pre- fallen out of the text by the mistake of a venting the reform. copyist, After the house of their fathers. SETTLEMENT OF THE WHOLE MATTER BY Rather, "for each father's house" - i. e. TllE REPUDIATION OF THE STRANGE WIVES " for each family." It would seem from this clause…
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Vers. 1-5.-,A. gleam of hope. The only trace of comfort in Ezra's previous prayer (ix. 6-15) was of a negative kind. Notwithstanding all the aggravated e,il which he had had to confess, the people were not destroyed. That, at least, could be said," We remain yet escaped." That being the case," who can tell" (see Jo…
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most no.tural course of proceeding. Only, in short, let all those concerned " covenant with their,God" to o.ct in this manner, and it would evidently be possible for them to become free of this plague. (2) The case was one in which such a remedy was quite lawful. They would not be endeavouring, by the proposed procesA,…
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Vers. 6-12.-A national call. We have traced before the probable influence of E~ra's piety and instructions; how they seem to have aroused the national con• 11c1ence, and so to have brought to light the secret national sin; and how they after• ~ards brought together so many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, first to g…
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have tnken strange wives ; " that ie tho main point of your treepaee. Also once more, he etntee it fully," To increase the trespass of Israel;" to add to that whidh was already too gre11t, 11nd which once beforo, in fart, except for God'e wonderful merey would have ruined Israel beyond recovery. That being the case, wh…
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it~elf so deep (see marg·in, end ver. 13). And yet if they were once allowed to die• pen::e, how could its accomplishment be secured at all? How much might be lost in such a case bey~nd th1iir power to rega_in I Equally unattaine.b~e the. thing appeared, wl'.atever they did. Anr persons less m earnest would ~ave giv…
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for their severance from such connections to be made an occasion of public scandal? Must the names of each be m11de known? Must they be made known as those of offenders? Must men of such standing be openly bound over to reform their households? If these questions were ever asked, we see from ver. 19 how they wrre answe…
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weeping-" of the people, S)'IDpathetic with the weeping of Ezrn (ver. 1), was the expression of a genuine contrition. Note-By weeping for the sins of others we may set them weeping for themselves. II. IT PROPOSED A NATIONAL REPENTANCE AND REFORMATION (ver. 3). 1. They were to pledge themselves to put away all the str…
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E~rn's cnse, there is (1) urgent reason for exciting others to feel as we do• or when ns in the case of the people, there is (2) general fervour in which it' would h; unsympatbising or unpatriotic not to share. It is a very noble sight when a whole people mourns with an honourable repentance, or arises in holy indig…
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epirit the d_ocument was £ram~~- 2. Ju measures w_ere strong and pe:rentJJtory. (1) All t~e ch!ldren of the captivity were to assemble m Jerusalem within three days, Sufficient time was gi'<"en. No man can plead that God has not given him sufficient time for the securing of his salvation. But there was no time to wa…
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23, 24), not touching the top only, or only sinking to the bottom of their society. It went quite through the whole mass. Among them that had taken strange wives were "sons of the priests" (ver. 18) ; "also of the Levites" (ver. 23); "of the singers also, and of the porters" (vers. 23, 24). No class or grade was free f…
1,226 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.